Olson’s hot hitting helps A’s rout Angels
TEMPE, ARIZ. >> The Oakland A’s faced a familiar foe with an all-too-familiar lineup Saturday, and things went their way.
The A’s held off Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and, for the most part, David Fletcher in an 11-2 win on a dry, windy day at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Chris Bassitt, who was never shy about how much this Angels lineup has given him headaches, took the mound for his third start of spring. Here are some takeaways from the game.
OLSON LOOKS ABOUT AS READY ASEVER >> Matt Olson went 3 for 4 with his fifth home run of spring — which hit a palm tree in right field — a double, and an opposite field single. He’s now 13 for 32 this spring with four doubles, a 1.424 OPS. How would pitching coach Scott Emerson instruct his pitchers to approach Olson?
“Try and get him before he gets off the bus,” Emerson said. “When you look at
a hitter, and I look at a lot of swings doing advanced scouting. When you see a guy as balanced as he’s been, that’s when you start getting nervous as a pitching coach on the other side.”
If Olson can maintain something close to this level of consistency with power this year, it could launch the A’s offense into the stratosphere.
“A healthy Olson is frightening for the league, I’ll tell you that,” Bassitt said. “I know everyone knows how good he is. But you give him a full year of being healthy, he’s going to put up some incredible numbers. I think we’re all excited about what he can do today.”
BASSITT WAS WILD, BUT EFFECTIVE >> Fletcher plopped a loopy single just inside the chalk in right field to lead off the game. Fletcher is a savant at finding fair ground if he makes any kind of contact with a pitch — so that hit was almost expected.
In that same inning, Bassitt struck out Trout looking at a cutter on the corner and walked Rendon. That started his 3 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, which included five strikeouts and two walks. Effective, but Bassitt wasn’t pleased with his location.
“I was kind of wild today. My pitches weren’t the best location wise, but my stuff was good,” Bassitt said. “If I’m going to tank I’d rather have my stuff than hitting spots. So I think we’re OK.”
Depending on how the A’s might realign their rotation during today’s off day and the two off days before opening day on April 1, Bassitt is in line to be starter for the season opener — with Frankie Montas and Jesús Luzardo still clear options, too. Bassitt threw 72 pitches Saturday, and by the end of camp the hope is that all starters are around 15 below 100 pitches.
“He’s seen a lot of these hitters, and they’ve seen him, so he tried to do a lot of stuff so that ran up his pitch count a little bit,” Emerson said.
After a career year in 2020, the 31-year-old righthander is doing what he can to stay ahead of the competition by incorporating a slider. He’s adopted a variation of Sergio Romo’s slider grip with some assistance from slider savant Jake Diekman to start incorporating the pitch more into his mix.
He tried out the new slider Saturday.
“Threw it a few times today. I don’t want to show Mike Trout and them that at all, so I didn’t throw it a ton,” Bassitt said. “I threw it a couple times and liked it. We’re still working on it, and I think it’s going to be a great weapon for me this year.”
PINDER’S VALUE >> The A’s outfield depth is running a little thin with injuries to Ramón Laureano and Buddy Reed and Skye Bolt, Greg Diechmann and Luis Barrera optioned. Lucky for the A’s, they have utilityman Chad Pinder, who can play any position on the field. He played right field on Saturday, going 2 for 4 with a home run.
Pinder is starting to heat up at the plate — perhaps showing a bat worth an everyday spot without an everyday position. On the other hand, he is most valuable as a jack of all trades. He played infield most of spring until the injury bug hit the outfield. Nothing is set in stone, but the A’s seem to envision Pinder being used in plenty of games without necessarily starting.
“Regardless of whether or not he starts a game, he could show up in a game either way,” manager Bob Melvin said on Saturday, adding he hasn’t sat down with the front office to decide how they plan to deploy players. They have an idea of the every day guys but haven’t mapped out how they’ll deploy platoons and execute specific match-ups. Pinder’s role is, as it usually is, assuredly mixed.
STOCKTON TABBED AS ALTERNATE SITE >> With the minor league season delayed until early May, all MLB teams will send their minor leaguers to an alternate site when camp breaks. The A’s used the San Francisco Giants’ San Jose site last year, but this year they’ll return to a familiar site, using Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton for 2021.
Banner Island Ballpark is home to the Class-a affiliate Stockton Ports. Players will report there on March 30 with workouts expected to start on April 1.
• Ramón Laureano could return to action on Monday, Melvin said. Laureano has missed the past three games with side soreness.
• Stephen Piscotty had a cortisone shot on a sore left wrist on Friday and missed Saturday’s game.